The monkey won't leave until February 8, 2005

 Monkey years have also brought their share of natural disasters, as the high-strung Yang+ Monkey ushers in it's naughty mix of deception and environmental temper-tantrums.

In the 1966 movie, One Million Years B.C ( starring Raquel Welch) , there is a scene depicting a fast receding shoreline, as if the water is being sucked into the ocean (scientists call this a drawback ). Prehistoric tribesmen, driven by their curiosity and need for food, run to the now dry water bed to gather fish and edible marine life. Then, as suddenly as it disappeared, the water returns in a series of giant waves that engulfs the helpless nomads. Through the years, when ocean based earthquakes occurred, bulletins have been posted to warn coastal communities that a receding shoreline is a signal of a tsunami: giant waves from an earthquake's upheaval of the sea bed.

Survivors from the latest tsunami disaster reported the same phenomenon. Some victims, like the tribesmen in the movie, even went out to the vacated sea bed to stroll.

The Associated Press reported:

"The chain reaction that sent enormous, deadly tidal waves crashing into the coasts of Asia and Africa on Sunday started more than six miles beneath the ocean floor off the tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra .

Geologic plates pressing against each other slipped violently, creating a bulge on the sea bottom that could be as high as 10 yards and hundreds of miles long, one scientist said.

``It's just like moving an enormous paddle at the bottom of the sea,'' said David Booth, a seismologist at the British Geological Survey. ``A big column of water has moved, we're talking about billions of tons. This is an enormous disturbance.''

Moving at about 500 mph, the waves took more than two hours to reach Sri Lanka , where the human toll has been horrific, and longer to spread to India and the east coast of Africa .

An Australian scientist had suggested in September that an Indian Ocean warning system be set up, but it takes a year to create one. Also, those living along the Indian Ocean 's shores were less likely than Pacific coastal dwellers to know the warning signs of an impending tidal wave - water receding unusually fast and far from the shore."

More than 130,000 deaths have so far been reported from the swath of destructive waves that overrun the coasts of Indonesia , Malaysia , Thailand , Sri Lanka , Maldives , and India . It took nature just 1 day to double the number of Americans who died through several years of war in Vietnam . The number is staggering, even mind-boggling: so much so that the global community has so far raised $ 1 Billion in aid.

Unfortunately, local victims complain that westerners are being given preferential treatment and that they are being ignored or are being treated as second class citizens. It is sad to see the elements of materialism affecting this unprecedent4ed humanitarian mission to bring aid to the victims. And of course, there is always a dark side in tragedies like this. In Phuket , Thailand , looters dressed in police uniforms raided the damaged hotels and resorts and ransacked the bags and belongings of tourists.

For our part, we can only pray that this won't happen to us in such a destructive scale; although in 1976, 5000 Filipinos died from a tsunami that hit the coasts of the Moro Gulf .

The Philippines has had its share of disasters and tragedies in 2004. Typhoon Winnie left more than 1000 dead in its destructive path. There were deaths of prominent personalities. People impatiently waited for the year to end, hoping for the New Year to wash away the bad luck and the ominous tragedies that have visited us. They hope for good tidings in 2005. But then again, those who subscribe to astrology and geomancy generally rely on the Chinese calendar for guidance.

And for those who equate fortune with the nuances of Chinese astrology, they might have to wait a little longer. Animal symbols are based on the Chinese lunar calendar and the year starts with the first new moon. This is the reason why the Chinese New Year, or the Year of the Rooster will begin on February 9, 2005 . It seems that the monkey will still be on our backs until then.

But come to think of it, it is not this adherence to fatalism that will chart our course for the next year. It is how we adopt to the challenges that come our way. It has something to do with our culture and our strength as a Nation.

In his Editorial for the Center for Alternative Development Initiatives, Nicanor Perlas concluded how disasters (both natural and man made) can best be mitigated or prevented:

"Those who want to stop the hazards of illegal logging and the on-going devastation of the fiscal crisis, need to go beyond the obvious. They need to go beyond paper calculations and policies and move into the uncharted territory of cultural structures, resistance and transformation. Culture may be hidden and invisible. But its workings nevertheless have an inexorable logic that has large-scale societal impacts.

A culture of destruction cannot simply be wished away. One has to introduce a new and more powerful cultural framework, including operational norms, to create the necessary development infrastructure to overcome illegal logging and stop the hemorrhage of the nation's coffers."